Over 2 Lakh Indian Students In USA For Higher Education, 14% Growth In Registrations Observed

In a latest report released from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), there are as many as 206,582 Indian students are currently in the US enrolled in American Universities. The higher education institutions in the US have registered over 14% growth in Indian students applying to US universities.

Most of the Indian students in US are interested in studying science technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses, according to new official figures.

As of November 2016, there were 1.23 million international students studying at 8,697 schools in the US.

China tops the list of sending the highest number of students to the US. There are about 378,986 students registering a growth of 5.2% since November 2015, said the report.

India is in the second place with 206,582 students in the US, but the growth rate is whooping 14.1 per cent which more than twice than that of China.

Other Asian countries like Saudi Arabia has shown a high growth with nearly 20% student enrollment. Currently, there are about 62,077 in the US.

There has been a 2.9 per cent increase in international student population in the US compared to November 2015. Also, there has been a decrease in 1% of certified schools during the same time frame.

The highest enrollment of international students in the US is seen in California, New York and Texas states. Foreign students in these states chose to major in business and engineering more than any other field.

Asia accounts for 47 per cent of the total number of international students.

According to the report, as many as 83 per cent of the Indian students are enrolled in STEM courses. Comparatively only 40 per cent of the Chinese students are enrolled in STEM courses.

Out of the nearly 514,000 international students pursuing STEM studies, almost 450,000 were from Asia, with the majority of all STEM students from India and China.

While only 1,288 international students from Australia and the Pacific Islands pursued STEM studies in the US, this geographic area had the largest percentage growth among STEM students at 15 per cent.

Over the last five years, the number of overall international students increased 49 per cent in California, 34.5 per cent in Texas and 30.3 per cent in New York.

The number of STEM students increased 103.8 per cent in California, 79.3 per cent in Texas and 68.2 per per cent in New York during the same time frame.

Connecticut, Massachusetts and Virginia saw especially notable growth in STEM students compared to November 2015, at 20 per cent, 14 per cent and 17 per cent respectively.